


breathless

by wisewolf



Series: umbrellas and black beanies [2]
Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Asking Out, F/F, Flirting, Hospitals, Pre-Relationship, Sick Character, and making rules for the universe, this is me building their relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:40:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26454277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisewolf/pseuds/wisewolf
Summary: “You said I had a patient? Bed seven?” Regina grabs the chart Red had put down and flutters her fingers in a parting gesture before approaching the curtain around bed seven. As she pulls the curtain back, she’s only looking down at the chart. “So, Ms. Sarkisian what seems to be the-”Janis is mid-cough when Regina looks up and stops in her tracks. Her eyes are watering and she looks miserable and bone-tired, hair tied back in a braid. She’s wearing a sweatshirt and basketball shorts, both emblazoned with the Northwestern logo. Sitting at her bedside is the man from that night, the man she bit: Damian.“Hey, Doc,” the werewolf in the hospital bed croaks out, trying for a smile that comes off more as a grimace. She’s got one hand rubbing over her chest, the same one she’d been habitually scratching back at her apartment. “Long time no see.”(or, the one where Janis ends up in Regina's ER)
Relationships: Regina George/Janis Sarkisian
Series: umbrellas and black beanies [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1914754
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	breathless

It’s an unreasonably slow night at the hospital, and Regina’s been hanging out at the nurse’s station for what feels like forever, checking and rechecking charts listlessly. All of her patients are either waiting for results of scans or tests, or they’ve been treated and are riding out the last of their stay. The most notable thing to have happened was a poor little boy came in around midnight with an earache, crying his eyes out from the pain while his father tried to soothe him.

_“It looks like a ruptured eardrum,” Regina says, rolling back on the swiveling stool to put away the otoscope. She stands up and pulls a pen and pad out of her coat, writing up a prescription before tearing it off and holding it out. “It’s pretty simple to treat. A round of antibiotics and some ear drops. Pain can be relieved with something over-the-counter or a warm compress, just make sure it’s dry.”_

_“But he’ll be okay?” the dad, James, asks, a little desperate._

_She smiles kindly at him and nods. “In a few weeks it should all clear up. If he’s still experiencing pain or discharge after the antibiotics and drops, I’d take him to his primary care doctor for further examination.”_

_“Thank you so much, Dr. George,” James says. He looks incredibly relieved, and judging by the bags under his eyes, exhausted._

_With how quiet it’s been, she almost wants to make conversation with James even as little Gabriel has calmed down, but she just quietly tells them she’ll get the discharge papers ready and leaves them to their devices._

Regina sighs and pulls her phone out of the pocket of her scrub pants. She remembers her first day as a resident at this very hospital a few years ago, seeing herself in her scrubs for the first time. It’d taken some… getting used to for the normally fashion forward blonde, but after the first time she was thrown up on, she figured it was better than getting her designer clothes ruined.

According to her weather app, it’s still raining, as it has been on and off for the past week. She’s gotten some serious mileage out of her borrowed umbrella, and when she’d had a lunch date with Gretchen and Karen on Wednesday and they saw the black umbrella instead of her usual pink one, they’d pestered her until she told them about the kind werewolf who fed her and took her in so she’d be safe.

Her eyes trail over the night shift nurses lazily, tongue flicking out over her lips to wet them. She could do with a snack. It’d be unethical to steal blood from the hospital, that she knows, but is it unethical to suck the blood of one's coworkers?

_Only if they die from it,_ she thinks to herself.

She shakes her head to dismiss that. If she’s hungry she can wait until she goes home for one of the bags of blood she’d restocked her fridge with… of course, unless any of the sweeter nurses are _offering._ The brunette seated furthest from her looks particularly delectable.

“Blue Eyes, there’s a new patient for you in bed seven,” Red, as they all call her on account of her fiery, ginger hair, says. She’s giving Regina a knowing look, her viridian eyes sparkling with mischief as though she knows exactly what the blonde doctor was thinking. She drums her nails on the counter they’re leaned against, dirt flecked under them. “She didn’t give me her name,” she sighs, exaggeratedly put out as she pouts. “Must’ve smelled it on me.”

Regina raises an eyebrow and smirks at that as she adjusts her stethoscope around her neck. “Isn’t it a little… I don’t know, immoral to go around a hospital of vulnerable people and ask them to give up their names, Red?”

The melodic laugh that escapes Red is almost intoxicating, but Regina resists the sway. “We do not have silly things like _morals_ where I come from.” When facing her head on, her eyes are angled in a way that’s almost inhuman, but not enough for anyone to truly notice if they aren’t looking. “Besides, isn’t it a little _immoral_ for you to be eyeing the other nurses as though one of them is going to be bleeding out on the floor of a supply closet in less than five minutes.”

“You said I had a patient? Bed seven?” Regina grabs the chart Red had put down and flutters her fingers in a parting gesture before approaching the curtain around bed seven. As she pulls the curtain back, she’s only looking down at the chart. “So, Ms. Sarkisian what seems to be the-”

Janis is mid-cough when Regina looks up and stops in her tracks. Her eyes are watering and she looks miserable and bone-tired, hair tied back in a braid. She’s wearing a sweatshirt and basketball shorts, both emblazoned with the Northwestern logo. Sitting at her bedside is the man from that night, the man she bit: Damian.

“Hey, Doc,” the werewolf in the hospital bed croaks out, trying for a smile that comes off more as a grimace. She’s got one hand rubbing over her chest, the same one she’d been habitually scratching back at her apartment. “Long time no see.”

“Janis, what are you doing in my hospital?” Regina asks, pulling the curtain closed so they have some privacy. She’s both thrilled and concerned, the former because she now has more of a chance to talk to her, and concerned because she’s in the ER at almost 2am looking like death.

And Regina knows death.

She sees it every time she looks in a modern mirror.

“I’m having a baby,” Janis snarks back. “I thought it was obvious.”

Damian scoffs and sits back in his chair, crossing his legs. “She’s been up all night coughing for the past few days,” he says. “Tonight she passed out in the middle of making tea that she insisted I not make for her.”

“Why were you making tea at 2am?” Regina mumbles, shaking her surprise off. She has to compartmentalize her feelings right now and be Janis’ doctor, not the vampire she saved off the street who hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her all week. Her brow furrows as she looks over the vitals the nurse took. “This can’t be right.”

“What?” Janis and Damian say at the same time.

“Red wrote your temperature down as 107 degrees Fahrenheit, which isn’t humanly…” The brunette gives her a dry look, almost daring her to finish her sentence. She purses her lips and looks back down at the chart. “Right, of course.”

“People like Janis run hot,” Damian informs.

“Yeah, I got that,” Regina snaps, roughly brushing a curl out of her face. She’s flustered now, but she just needs to take a deep breath and hand this off to another doctor because _obviously_ she’s too personally involved to handle this.

Except, Red gave her this for a reason.

Creatures like her and Janis and Red aren’t welcome in the world. They pretend like they don’t exist, living right under the noses of other people, seeing only their own kind, those who understand. That shows itself in this very ER, with Red and Regina, both of whom somehow, inexplicably, always end up taking care of the Others.

“Hello?” Damian waves his hand in Regina’s view to get her attention, looking a little agitated with her absent expression. “Janis is currently dying and my usual remedies haven’t been working. Maybe do something?”

“Let me do my job.” She takes a moment to compose herself. “Okay, so I have some thoughts about what it could be, just judging by everything I’m seeing, but I have to ask you some questions to be sure,” Regina starts, seating herself on the rolling stool adjacent to the bed and rolling up to Janis with her chart already prepared. “Any recent travel?”

“No.”

“What do you do for work?”

“I’m a barista at Daphne’s, that 24-hour cafe.”

“Isn’t that owned by the-” Regina cuts herself off when Damian gives her a warning look. He doesn’t look keen on being near someone who disrespects the Fae, that much she can tell. She clears her throat and looks up, wondering if Red can hear them from the nurses station. “The Gentry?”

Janis nods, bringing her collar up over her nose as another fit of coughing takes her. When it clears up, she says, “They pay well, and they can’t lie about things normal employers can. Good benefits.”

“Fair enough. Contact with anyone else who may be sick?”

“I’m a barista,” she says wryly and that's really answer enough. “I’ve been off work since I started showing symptoms about three days ago? It wasn’t as bad then, but it’s only gotten worse.” She sniffles and makes a disgruntled sound. If she truly hasn’t been sleeping through the night, Regina can understand the weariness and general “fuck life” attitude.

Regina flips the chart shut and sets it down on a little table beside the bed before standing up and moving her stethoscope into place. “Okay, I’m gonna listen to your lungs. It’s gonna be a little cold on your skin.” She places the stethoscope on Janis’ burning skin, grimacing herself as the coolness of her own fingers brushes against the heat. “Take a breath for me?”

When she breathes, her lungs crackle. It happens with each breath, and finally Regina pulls away and removes the instrument from her ears. Damian is watching her intently as she notes it down on the chart and then says, “Judging by your symptoms and what I heard in your lungs, it seems like pneumonia, but I have a few tests I’d like to run just to confirm and learn more.”

“You can’t just give me some fucking medicine for this?” Janis demands hoarsely. She looks more defeated than annoyed, really, which is more than Regina can ask for some days. Whenever there’s a difficult patient they always seem to end up on her roster.

“To treat this effectively I’m gonna need to know what kind of pneumonia it is.” Regina doesn’t like it any more than Janis because it means her being a patient longer, which means more time spent having to be professional and act like she hasn’t been thinking about her for a week. She scoots out of the curtained off area and beckons Red over, murmuring, “I want to call a blood test and a chest x-ray. I think it’s pneumonia.”

“I’ll keep it discreet,” Red replies, winking before fluttering off to get the work done.

Regina rolls back behind the curtain, twirling the pen in her fingers before putting it in her coat pocket and smiling at Janis. “Red’ll be in in a bit to take some blood, and at some point they’ll take you up to radiology for that x-ray. It doesn’t seem so severe that we’ll need to keep you here much longer, at the very least, but for now we’re gonna keep an eye on you.”

“Is it normal for The Fair Folk to pursue nursing degrees?” Damian asks suddenly, a little suspicious. Now that Janis’ condition is less concerning, he can pivot his focus to the obvious Fae about to draw blood from his best friend.

“Red finds her own little joys in working here,” Regina replies. “I do sometimes have to wrangle her into not stealing humans away because they were foolish enough to give up their names to her, but it keeps things exciting.”

“And let me guess, you’re a doctor for access to the blood supply?” Janis lolls her head back and forth, her eyelids drooping as she looks at Regina. She’s smirking a little, obviously joking. Her previous disposition seems to have disappeared now that she’s been told she won’t be kept too much longer, even if there still is a tightness around her eyes. “Cliche much, Regina?”

Regina rolls her eyes and stands up from the stool, though she has to fight a grin of her own. “I think you’ll find in these walls I’m referred to as Dr. George.” She clasps her hands in front of her and gives them both a look, daring either of them to come after her choice of career. Neither does, so she says, “If there’s nothing either of you need from me, I should be checking on my other patients.”

“Wait,” Janis says hoarsely, sitting up a little quick in bed. She takes a shallow, rattling breath as Damian tries to push her back into the pillow. “Will I see you again before you get off work?”

“Well, depending on when and what exactly comes back on your tests, I may come by to write you a prescription. If it’s viral pneumonia, however.” Regina puffs out her cheeks before loosing the air. It’s a subconscious sort of thing, breathing. It makes people uncomfortable when they see you aren’t breathing. “Well, if it’s a virus I can really only tell you to take a fever reducer and drink plenty of fluids. Water and hot teas are good to get some relief. Don’t smoke, if you’re into that.”

Janis lets out a dry sounding laugh before starting to cough again, her eyes watering with the force of it. She blinks a few times, looking almost disappointed. “I need to give you your beanie back,” she says softly.

“Keep it,” Regina replies just as quietly, her lips upturning the slightest bit at the edges. “I’m a little attached to your umbrella, I’ll be honest.”

A palpable tension has risen between them as they stare at one another, Damian looking between them curiously. He looks like he wants to say something, but he’s keeping it to himself.

The curtain pulls back to reveal Red with a small cart and a tray on top of it. There’s a needle, a tourniquet, alcohol wipes, and a few vials arranged neatly on the tray. “Blue Eyes, the CT scan for Lisa Edwards came back, and I ordered the blood tests and chest x-ray for Miss Sarkisian.”

“Thank you, Red,” Regina says, letting her hands drop into the pockets of her coat as she turns to smile at Janis who’s looking at her a little sadly. “She’ll take care of you. I’ll be back once your tests get done.”

“Thanks for taking care of me, Regina.” Janis nods to her as she rolls up the sleeve of her sweatshirt for Red.

Regina nods and takes a step away, ignoring the curious look Red is giving her. “Just doing my job, Miss Sarkisian. I’ll see you later.”

*******

Damian is on her within seconds of Red leaving with the blood, telling them she’d be back in a little bit to take her up to radiology and to put on one of the hospital gowns.

“You didn’t tell me hot vampire lady who bit me was a doctor,” he whisper-yells, obviously trying to keep his voice down if Regina is still out and about on the floor. She’d mentioned other patients, so it seems likely.

“Our career paths didn’t exactly come up before she basically ran out of the apartment,” Janis replies sharply. She leans back in the bed and closes her eyes, groaning quietly to herself at how tired she feels, yet how energized seeing Regina made her. “It’s just my shitty luck that I get fucking pneumonia and end up at the hospital she works at.”

“Maybe it’s good luck,” Damian says dreamily. Janis rolls her eyes, but he just taps her bed a few times. “No, seriously, come on! What if it’s the gods putting you two in each other's paths until you ask each other out? First we meet her on a full moon when she’s starving and we happen to be the only people around, so we take her in and make sure she’s safe. She leaves behind her beanie and takes your favorite umbrella-”

“-it’s my only umbrella you hopeless romantic-”

“-your _favorite umbrella,”_ he stresses. “It’s your favorite because it’s your only one.”

Janis covers her face and turns to have another coughing fit. She wishes she could just fall asleep for the next ten years and get rid of this illness. Normally her immune system can fight off anything. She hasn’t been this sick since before she was Turned.

Now it’s only worse because sure she’s been hoping to run into Regina again, but she’d been thinking more along the lines of Regina showing up at Daphne’s randomly. Maybe seeing one another in a park or on a night walk. Not when she’s coughing her lungs out of her chest and looking like she’s been hit by a fucking bus.

“And now you’re sick as a dog in her hospital! What are the odds!”

“Would you quit with the dog puns?” Janis sighs, scrubbing the crust from her eyes. She glares at her best friend, almost regretting letting him take her to the hospital. “It was bad enough when you were helping me to the car after I woke up and asked if I wanted to go to the emergency vet or the hospital.”

“I was trying to lighten the mood,” he complains. “No one appreciates my jokes.”

Janis grunts and covers her eyes with her arm. Maybe she can catch up on some sleep before Red comes by to take her to get her chest x-rayed. Gods, of all the things to catch, pneumonia.

At least she wasn’t lying about Daphne’s giving her good benefits.

*******

Regina sighs as she looks over the results of the blood tests and the chest x-ray, twirling her ponytail around her forefinger. It’s certainly pneumonia, and a nasty case at that. The inflammation of Janis’ lungs is certainly not good to look at, and probably feels even worse for the woman herself.

“The mutt called you Regina.”

Her shoulders slump and she closes Janis’ chart to face Red, giving her an unamused look. “She’s not a mutt, Red, she’s still a woman like you or me.”

Red rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. “You gave her your name.”

“She isn’t among The Gentry, even if she works for them. We’re not bound by your laws or customs.” She sighs and puts Janis’ chart under her arm. “Besides, I told her my name last week when she saved me from starving, and that’s why she knows it. I don’t just give my name out to patients because of the possibility of them being like you. Now if you’ll excuse me-” Regina slides past Red and towards bed seven to give Janis her diagnosis, instructions, and discharge papers- “I have a patient to see.”

Green eyes follow her until she’s safely behind the curtain, smiling a little when she sees that Janis has finally fallen asleep. She feels a little bad about having to wake her up, but she can’t just tell Damian everything.

“How is she?” Regina asks quietly, coming to stand on the other side of the bed as Damian closes the crossword book he’d pilfered from the nurses station after complaining of boredom.

“Finally sleeping, even though I figure you’re gonna have to wake her up now that you’re here,” he replies. “Y’know… she told me not to meddle, but she’s not exactly awake to be mad at me-”

Janis groans in the bed, making Regina chuckle as Damian sighs loudly and exaggeratedly. He gives Regina a look that reads “we’ll talk later” before they both lean back as Janis lets out a series of hacking coughs, followed by a second, longer groan. “Am I dead yet?”

“Being dead isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” Regina says coolly, flipping open her chart. “Let’s talk about your diagnosis, hm? You have a nasty case of viral pneumonia, which means there’s not much I can do about it beyond telling you to get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, and take over-the-counter meds to reduce your fever. If you feel dry you can run a steamy shower and just breath, or invest in an air humidifier.”

“So when can I leave?” Janis asks. The way her eyes dart around with minor disdain tells Regina that the werewolf doesn’t quite like hospitals. She can’t quite sympathize-- vampires don’t get regular human sickness’, not to mention she works in a hospital-- but she understands that some patients have bad memories in the ER.

Regina grabs a packet of papers out of her chart and lends her a pen from her coat pocket. “As soon as you turn these discharge papers in, you’ll be free to go.”

“And when is your shift over, Dr. George?” Damian asks, his tone colored with purpose. He raises an eyebrow and glances between his glaring best friend and the cool gaze of the blonde doctor. “Purely out of curiosity, of course.”

She checks her watch and hums to herself, letting her coat sleeve cover it once more. “Now, actually. Any reason?”

“Well if you’re off shift and Janis isn’t your patient anymore-”

“Damian Hubbard, I swear to the gods I will give you pneumonia,” Janis says icily, signing off on the discharge papers with a little more fervor than is necessary. “Butt out, would you?”

Damian rolls his eyes and shrugs. “I tried. You can’t blame me for anything now.”

Regina gives them both an amused look before she says, “He does have a point, though. Now that I’m not your doctor, maybe I can do this without it being against the code of ethics.” She plucks a second pen from her pocket and scribbles a series of digits down on her notepad, ripping the paper out and handing it to Janis. “Please, don’t hesitate to call me… maybe we can schedule something so I can check up on your condition?”

Janis gapes at her as she takes the phone number, seemingly taken aback by the forwardness. “Regina-”

“I’m still not going to give you your umbrella back,” Regina interrupts, laughing. “Just know I’m not available during the day. You should know that’s when I sleep.”

“Right! Because you’re- you-” she gestures vaguely at her body with her own pen- “right, of course. I- I’ll text you? Maybe we can get drinks at Daphne’s! They have some stuff that caters to vamp- excuse me, people like you.” Her eyes are a little wide, and they’re definitely bloodshot, but she somehow still manages to look attractive and endearing despite her illness.

Regina nods and smiles. “I’d like that. Text me, okay?” She waves at the both of them before leaving the small, partitioned off area. Her eyes immediately lock with Red’s but she just bites her lip against a grin and walks past her to go to the locker room to get changed back into her casual clothes.

“Smooth, Blue Eyes!” Red calls after her.

If she weren’t a professional, she’d flip the Faerie off, but instead she just calls back:

“Goodbye, Red!”

**Author's Note:**

> did you like it? what was y'alls favorite part? leave me comments/kudos, they make me smile when I open my email and see them!! if you wanna yell at me on tumblr about my fics find me @kingwisewolf
> 
> i hope you liked it


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